Latest Articles
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My Dear Watson
Responding to pressure from the energy industry, the Bush administration is seeking to remove the U.S scientist who heads the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Robert Watson, chief scientist at the World Bank, has been the unpaid chair of the IPCC for nearly six years. In that capacity, he has been outspoken in his belief […]
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Lake Manna From Heaven?
The U.S. EPA has unveiled a new Bush administration plan to protect and restore the Great Lakes. The plan aims to reduce PCB concentration in some Great Lakes fish species, restore or enhance 100,000 acres of wetland in the Great Lakes Basin, decrease introductions of invasive species, and accelerate the clean-up of contaminated sites. However, […]
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You Say You Want a Resolution
Do investors care if the companies benefiting from their dollars are contributing to global warming? Increasingly, the answer may be yes: Global warming is the fastest-growing resolutions category tracked by the Investor Responsibility Research Center and the Social Investment Forum, according to data released last week. So far this year, 18 global warming resolutions have […]
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Lonelier Little Sparrow
Who notices the fall of the sparrow? For starters, scientists in China, where the once-common sparrow is on the brink of extinction. Around the northeastern port of Tianjin, the sparrow population has declined by an estimated 90 percent since Mao’s days; in many parts of southern and central China, the birds have all but disappeared. […]
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The Misery River
The Missouri River is the nation’s most threatened river, according to a report released today by American Rivers. In its annual report of endangered waterways, the group blamed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the terrible conditions of Big Muddy. The river is dammed in six places; dredging for barge traffic has shortened it […]
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The Full Monty
In an effort to combat global warming, Great Britain has set up the world’s first national greenhouse gas emissions trading plan. Under the plan, emissions credits will be traded like any other commodity; British companies that agree to participate can directly reduce their own use of fossil fuels, or they can buy part or all […]
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One World, One More Agency
What the world needs is another regulatory agency. That is the conclusion of legal and environmental experts at the Tokyo-based U.N. University, who believe a new world environmental organization, as well as an international environmental court, could help make sense of the more than 500 environmental agreements and agencies operating around the world. In a […]
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The Salton of the Earth
The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake — and one of the most endangered habitats in North America. The sea is extremely salty and getting more so every day. And outbreaks of botulism and lack of oxygen have killed thousands of the birds and fish that call the lake home. Now the lake faces another […]
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What Fuels These Mortals Be
Surprise, surprise: The U.S. Department of Transportation decided yesterday not to increase fuel-efficiency requirements for sport utility vehicles and other light trucks for the model year 2004. The decision comes after the Senate voted last month against a sharp increase in Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, instead directing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a […]
